Offshore wind farm proposed near Morro Bay

March 13, 2016

Correction: While the long blade turbines are being designed in the United States, it is not currently part of the Morro Bay project.

A plan to build a wind facility off the coast of Morro Bay is currently moving through the regulatory process. Trident Winds is seeking to place 100 floating wind turbines 15 miles off the Central California coastline. [LA Times]

There are more than 70 offshore wind farms in the world, with the largest number in Europe. However, the Morro Bay offshore wind facility would be the first in California.

While today’s longest wind turbine blades are 262.5 feet, a group is working on developing blades of 656.1 feet. Because of the size of the blades, the height of the the tower is estimated to rise 1,574 feet, or nearly one-third of a mile.

At a cost of $3.5 million, the U.S. Energy Department is funding the development of project’s technology through its Advanced Research Projects Agency energy program. A team of four universities and two national laboratories has three years to build and test a scaled prototype, which is to have two blades instead of the standard three blade turbines, in order to move forward with the offshore wind farm.

49 Comments

Getting electricity from a wind turbine is like growing your own tomatoes in a backyard garden. Sure they’re delicious, but are the $20 / lb. delicious? Wind turbines only exist to steal tax-payer’s confiscated wealth, as redistributed by people we pay to do it; all the while, they blow smoke up our ass and tell us we’re “saving the planet.”

Sadly, too many people fall for it hook, line and sinker. Gotta love our society.

Yes I would rather see miles of industrial wind turbines instead of an untrammeled desert.
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You can see “untrammeled desert” from east of Riverside all the way to El Paso Texas. 1500 miles of rock, crushed rock, sand and tumble weeds. That’s not enough for you? You can’t even give up a couple of miles of looking at crushed rock to look at some windmills?

It doesn’t pass my common sense test. People just like to complain. About anything and everything. Why are people so ridiculous?

Since you believe wind turbines are not ugly, I propose we build miles of winds turbines next to your house, spoiling whatever view you enjoy. Then your “environmentalism” will be out the window, just as it was with Robert Kennedy Jr when a wind farm was proposed off the coast of the Kennedy Compound at Martha’s Vineyard.

The point is that wind turbines really are ugly, they take up large amounts of land, and they do not generate much power.

One day when the world comes to it’s senses and realizes all of the harm wind turbines can do it will cost a fortune to remove all of the wind turbines world wide. And don’t give me the expert argument when the so called experts are the very people that stand to earn big bucks screwing up our view shed.